each other, is hardly to be paralleled of which many amiable instances appear in their letters, lately published by the son of the latter particularly in the following. "J'ai trouvé que la TROMPETTE & LES SOURDS ętoient trop joues, & qu'il ne falloit point trop appuyer sur votre incommodité, moins encore chercher de l'esprit sur ce sujet." Boileau communicated to his friend the first sketch of his Ode on the Taking Namur. It is entertaining to contemplate a rude draught by such a master; and is no less pleasing to observe the temper with which he receives the objections of Racine.* "J'ai deja retouché à tout cela; mais je ne veux point l'achever que je n'aie reçu vos remarques, qui surément m' éclaireront encore l'esprit." The same volume informs us of a curious anecdote, that Boileauf generally made the second verse of a couplet before the first; that he declared it was one of the grand secrets of poetry, to give, by this means, a

greater

*

Pag. 197. See also pag. 245. 191.

A strong argument against rhyme in general, might be drawn from this strange practice of even so correct a writer as Boileau.

greater energy and meaning to his verses; that he advised Racine to follow the same method; and said on this occasion, "I have taught him to rhyme with difficulty."

37. No place so sacred from such fops is barr'd,

Nor is Paul's church more safe than Paul's church-yard:
Nay, fly to altars, there they'll talk you dead;

For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.*

This stroke of satire is literally taken from Boileau.

Gardez-vous d' imiter ce rimeur furieux,
Qui de ses vains écrits lecteur harmonieux
Aborde en récitant quiconque le salue,

Et poursuit de ses vers les passans dans le ruë,
Il n'est Temple si saint, des Anges respecté,
Qui soit contre sa muse un lieu du sûreté.f

Which lines allude to the impertinence of a French poet, called Du Perrier; who, finding Boileau one day at church, insisted upon repeating to him an ode during the elevation of the host; and desired his opinion, whether or no it

was

* Ver. 622.

Art. Poet. Chant. iv,

was in the manner of Malherbe.

Without this

anecdote, the pleasantry of the satire would be overlooked. It may here be occasionally observed, how many beauties in this species of writing are lost, for want of knowing the facts to which they allude. The following passage may be produced as a proof. Boileau, in his excellent Epistle to his Gardener at Anteuil, says,

Mon maître, dirois-tu, passe pour un Docteur,
Et parle quelquefois mieux qu' un Prédicateur.*

It seems our author and Racine returned one day in high spirits from Versailles, with two ho

nest

* Epitre 11.

↑ The names of Racine, and Corneille, being often mentioned in this work, it will not be improper to add an ingenious parallel of their respective merits, written by Fontenelle.

I. Corneille had no excellent author before his eyes, whom he could follow: Racine had Corneille.

II. Corneille found the French stage in a barbarous state, and advanced it to great Perfection: Racine has not supported it in the perfection in which he found it.

III. The characters of Corneille are true, though they are not common: The characters of Racine are not true, but only in proportion as they are common.

IV.

nest citizens of Paris. As their conversation was full of gaiety and humour, the two citizens were greatly

IV. Sometimes the characters of Corneille are, in some respects, false and unnatural, because they are noble and singular: Those of Racine are often, in some respects, low, on account of their being natural and ordinary.

V. He that has a noble heart, would chuse to resemble the heroes of Corneille: He that has a little heart, is pleased to find his own resemblance in the heroes of Racine.

VI. We carry, from hearing the pieces of the One, a desire to be virtuous: And we carry the pleasure of finding men like ourselves in foibles and weaknesses, from the pieces of the Other.

VII. The Tender and the Graceful of Racine is sometimes to be found in Corneille: The Grand and Sublime of Corneille is never to be found in Racine.

VIII. Racine has painted only the French and the present age, even when he designed to paint another age, and other nations: We see in Corneille, all those ages, and all those nations, that he intended to paint.

IX. The number of the pieces of Corneille is much greater than that of Racine: Corneille, notwithstanding, has made fewer tautologies and repetitions than Racine has made.

X. In the passages where the versification of Corneille is good, it is more bold, more noble, and, at the same time, as pure and as finished as that of Racine: but it is not preserved in this degree of beauty; and that of Racine is always equally supported.

XI.

greatly delighted: and one of them, at parting, stopt Boileau with this compliment; "I have travelled with Doctors of the Sorbonne, and even with Religious; but I never heard so many fine things said before; en verite vous parlez cent fois mieux qu' un PREDICATEUR."

It

XI. Authors inferior to Racine have written successfully after him, in his own way: No author, not even Racine himself, dared to attempt, after Corneille, that kind of writing which was peculiar to him.

This comparison, of the justness of which the reader is left to judge, is said greatly to have irritated Boileau, the invariable friend and defender of Racine. It may be remarked, that Boileau had mentioned Fontenelle with contempt, in a strange stanza that originally concluded his Ode to the King, at present omitted. These were the lines:

J'aime mieux, nouvel Icare,
Dans les airs cherchant Pindare,
Tomber du ciel le plus haut:
Que loué de Fontenelle,
Razer, craintive hirondelle,

La terre, comme Perault.

This ode was parodied in France; but not with such incomparable humour, as by our Prior, in England.

To these remarks of Fontenelle may be added what Voltaire says, with his usual vivacity and brevity: "Corneille alone formed himself; but Louis XIV. Colbert, Sophocles, and Euripides, all of them contributed to form Racine."